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Diary of a

piratevoyage

The Time Key

Dear Reader

,

We wrote th

is diary very

soon after w

e

had the MOS

T AMAZING

adventure E

VER!

No one— our pa

rents,our gr

andfather, n

ot

even our frie

nds atschoo

l—believed u

s.

Theysaid it

was all a dr

eam, or that

we

had made it

all up.But th

is WASN’T a

dream, othe

rwisehow c

ome BOTH O

F US

remember IN

EVERY DET

AIL what ha

d

happened? A

nd howcould

we make it u

p,

whenwe ha

d NO IDEA w

hat itwas li

ke to

live amongst

PIRATES all

thoseyears

ago?

So wedecide

d to note do

wn everythi

ng

that took pla

ce andkeep a

ll thethings

we

foundon our

adventure in

this diary. Y

ou

can now dec

ide for your

selveswheth

er we

are telling th

e truth—an

d discover w

hat it

was REALLY

like tofind y

ourself abo

ard a

PIRATE SHI

P! Joshand M

aisie

First published in 2010 by Orpheus Books Ltd.,

6 Church Green, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX28 4AW, England

Copyright ©2010 Orpheus Books Ltd.

CCrreeaatteedd aanndd pprroodduucceedd bbyy

Nicholas Harris, Sarah Hartley, Katie Sexton and Erica Williams, Orpheus Books Ltd.

TTeexxtt Nicholas Harris

IIlllluussttrraatteedd bbyy Peter Dennis

HHiissttoorriiccaall ccoonnssuullttaanntt Philip Wilkinson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or

otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN 13: 978 17590 6389 8

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed and bound in China

The Time KeyDiary of a

piratevoyage

“So, where is theSpanish Main?”Granddad said my sister Maisieand I should go and look it upon the globe in his study. Hesaid it was the name given tothe lands around the CaribbeanSea many years ago.

While we werelooking at the globe,one of Granddad’sbooks fell out of thebookcase on to thefloor. “That’s funny,”said Maisie. “I didn’teven touch it”.It was a really old book

about piracy in theCaribbean—just what wewere really interested in! A page had come loose in thefall. It was about a vast hoardof treasure that had beenburied but never found.

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A G A L L E O N belonging to the Spanish fleet, called the

Almiranta, was reported to have gone down off the

southern coast of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea during

a terrible storm in the year 1714. All hands were lost.

She was known to have been carrying an unusually

valuable cargo of gold and silver coins, emeralds and

pearls. Yet, when a salvage of the stricken vessel was

attempted just three months later (an operation

considered without great difficulty in the shallow waters

close to shore), no sign of the treasure was found. It was

strongly suspected that pirates active in the area were the

culprits. It was further rumoured that a chest containing

some of the treasure trove was buried on a nearby island,

and that it remains there to this day.

FIG 1. A treasure hoard believed to be similar to that

which was lost with the sinking of the Almiranta.

L O S T T R E A S U R E

119

As we were reading it, we could feel a draughtcoming from the space in the bookcase where thebook had been. We took away some other booksand discovered a small door at the back of thebookcase. Straight away, Maisie turned the key

and pulled it open.“There’s a room in there.It’s a bit dark.”We looked at each other,knowing exactly what we were going to do next. Iwas the first one through.We looked around in silence. It was a bit like

Granddad’s study, but instead of a computer, therewas a pen and inkpot on the table. There were so many old thingsaround it was like we were in a museum. The room started to rockgently from side to side. It was then we realised we were on a ship...

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We could hear voices and fiddle music. Wefollowed them out on deck. Wow! What a sight!We were on a FANTASTIC sailing ship. It wasin harbour. Men were carrying sacks andchests. Some were winching a barrel on board,cursing loudly. Others were carrying sacks andchests, stowing them below deck. ”Where’ve you been, you rogues?” a gruffvoice barked at us. We swung round. It was the captain.

A His t o ry o fPIRACY

THE FIRST PIRATES

THE “GOLDEN AGE” OF PIRACY

AS LONG AS people have sailed theoceans, there have been pirates, orsea robbers. Pirates terrorized

cargo ships in the Mediterranean Sea morethan 2500 years ago. Roman ships werealso constantly threatened. Between the 9th and 11th centuries,

Viking raiders (below) sailed from theirScandinavian homeland in narrow woodenlongships. They attacked towns around thecoasts of Europe from Ireland to Russia,stealing anything of value.

In the Middle Ages, corsairs (above) sailedfrom Muslim cities on the Barbary Coast inNorth Africa. They plundered Christianships and coastal towns, carrying offcaptives to be sold as slaves.Monarchs once permitted merchant

ships to attack their enemies on theirbehalf during time of war. These vesselswere called privateers. The captain and theking shared the spoils. In the 16th century,the Spanish started to transport gold andsilver back from their conquered lands inthe Americas. Privateers joined forces with

local raiders, called buccaneers, toattack Spanish ships. The

“Golden Age” ofPiracy hadbegun.

From about 1700 to 1730, the piratesof the Caribbean were at their mostsuccessful. Large Spanish treasure

ships, called galleons, sailed from theSpanish Main, the Caribbean coast ofCentral and South America, laden with goldand silver. These huge warships weresometimes more than 35 metres long and 10metres wide. They had up to 30 cannon oneither side and a crew of more than200 men.

Despite their great size and weaponry, thegalleons were often out-manoeuvred by thesmaller, faster pirate ships. Pirates wouldtake a galleon by surprise, swapping afriendly flag for the Jolly Roger (aboveright) only moments before their attack

When a pirate shipthreatened a galleon,it would normallymeet with littleresistance. Piratecrews often vastly

outnumbered the crew of a merchant vessel.Faced with the challenge, few crews woulddare to put up a fight. The captain would

often surrender before a shothad been fired in order tosave lives. But sometimes,especially if there weretrained guards aboard, battlewas joined. Following aninitial bombardment bycannon fire, the pirate shipwould draw alongside the

galleon, using a grappling iron (above left) tohold the ships together. The pirates werewell-prepared for battle: they leapt aboard,brandishing swords, pistols and daggers.Some pirates

achieved greatnotoriety. EdwardTeach, also known asBlackbeard (below),terrified crews bytying burning fusesinto his hair andbeard. Huge rewards were offered for hiscapture. He was eventually killed in 1718,but only after being shot five times andreceiving 20 blows from a sword.

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Somehow, we had travelled back through time 300 years! We were onboard an 18th century ship. Now we were about to go to sea. As twoship’s boys (Maisie was dressed for the part), we would have to workfor our supper. Captain Jack wasn’t too angry with us. He sent usbelow deck to find Will, the second mate. He would show us what to do.This gave us a chance to have a good look round,

The ship was called the Esmeralda. The captain’s quarters—where wehad “arrived”—were at the back, or stern. The crew, including us, hadto share living space with the stores: food, water, ale, gunpowder andspare sails. There was a galley where all the cooking was done. At thevery bottom of the ship was a dank, smelly place known as the bilges(why was it full of rocks, I wondered?)

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There was another ship, quitelike ours, in harbour. She wascalled the Medusa. We saw oneof our crew talking with menfrom the Medusa. They gavehim what looked like a bag ofmoney. Strange...Later that day, at high tide,

we watched as the Medusaunfurled her sails and slippedout of the harbour. We waited

a while, then did the same,following at a distance. One of the other

lads explained that our captain suspected that the Medusa was on thetrail of some buried treasure. It rightfully belonged to us, so we weregoing to try and get it back. The captain had a plan. But where did this treasure come from? Then it dawned on me. Thehairs stood up on the back of my neck. This was the Spanish Main. Boththe Medusa and the Esmeralda were pirate ships! We were surroundedby REAL PIRATES!

The crew of theEsmeralda were kindto us. They told us thatthey used to work onmerchant ships, but

they had been treatedvery badly by the senior

officers.They had been forced to eatrotten food full of maggots (yurrgh!) and had often been flogged forno good reason.Life was hard on a pirate ship, too, but at least the men were better

treated. They had elected their officers by a show of hands. CaptainJack was a brave man and they all respected him. They were proudof their ship and everyone followed the rules. So now it was down to work for

Maisie and me. We helpedscrub the decks, usingblocks of stone toscrape off the grime.This made our handsraw. Later we weretold to go down tothe stores and huntthe rats that wereeating the food andnibbling through ropes. Igot seven of them!

On be ing a PIRATE

Two staple foods on pirateships were salted pork andtough, long-lasting biscuitscalled hard tack (below). These

often becameinfested withweevils.When foodran out, the crew

had to eat soups madefrom boiled

bones (above). On some ships,the only food was old leather!Water became undrinkablejust days into a voyage, sopirates drank beer (right) or rum instead.

Easy to carry on a belt, a dagger (above) was a

useful weapon to use on lower decks where there

was little space to swing a cutlass.

The cutlass (above) was the pirate’s preferred weapon. Its short blade made it ideal for use in tight

spaces on board ship. A sword with a longer blade might have got caught up in the rigging.

The musketoon (above) was a short-barrelled version of the musket.

It was less accurate, but easier to fire at close quarters.

A flintlock pistol (above) worked when a spark,

caused by flint striking steel, ignited gunpowder.

This fired a ball from the barrel. Damp sea air

often caused it to misfire, and reloading was slow.

When about to board an enemy

ship, the pirates might throw hand-

made bombs (right) on to the deck.

The smouldering mixture of rags and tar created a smoke

screen—the perfect cover for marauding pirates.Pirates used axes

(right) to board

enemy ships. With

the blade embedded

in the wooden sides,

he could haul

himself up holding

on to the axe’s shaft.

A musket (above) was best-suited to shooting from distance. With a careful aim (and

a calm sea), a marksman could fire a musket ball at his target with great accuracy.

Food and drinkMany shipscarried chickens(left) on board.These providedeggs and meat, On long voyages,

poor diet resulted indiseases. Scurvy, caused by alack of vitamin C, could be prevented byeating fruit. The sea itself provided freshfood in the form of fish or dolphins. Seaturtles (above) were a good source of freshmeat. They were slow on land and easy preyfor pirates. They could even be kept alive onboard ship until needed. Turtle eggs werealso a popular delicacy.

Weaponry

Life at sea was tough. Below deck, itwas dark, damp and dirty. Themen lived in cramped conditions,

sleeping amongst rats and eating a poordiet. There were no doctors, so theirbattle wounds wentuntreated.

Much of the time, in the weeks betweenattacks, life was extremely boring. Butthe pirates were certainly bettertreated, and had more freedoms andrights, than “normal” sailors. Boththe captain and the quartermaster(the person in charge of food andliving conditions on board) wereelected by the crew. The captainwas often the fiercest fighter, aman the crew would trust ratherthan a hated figure of authority.

Many pirate crews followedrules (called articles) that wereagreed amongst themselves.They divided up what theyseized. If a pirate took moreof his share of the booty,was found guilty ofstealing, or was judged acoward in battle, he wasmarooned (left on hisown) on a remoteisland with only alittle water and food.

A R TI C L

E S OF T

H I S S H

I P

1 Every ma

n shall obey

orders on t

his ship.

2 The Cap

tain shall h

ave one full

share and a

half in all p

rizes. The

first mate, ca

rpenter, boa

tswain and g

unner shall

have one sha

re and

a quarter. A

ll others sha

ll have one

share.

3 If any ma

n shall attem

pt to run aw

ay, or keep

any secret fr

om the

ship’s comp

any, he shal

l be maroon

ed with one

bottle of po

wder,

one bottle o

f water, one

small firea

rm and som

e lead shot.

4 If any ma

n shall steal

anything to

the value o

f a piece of

eight or

more, he sh

all be maroo

ned or shot

.

5 If any ma

n shall sign

the articles

of another

pirate ship

without

the consent

of our ship’

s company,

he shall suff

er such pun

ishment

as the ship’

s company

shall think

fit.

6 If any ma

n shall strik

e another, h

e shall recei

ve 39 lashes

on his

bare back.

7 If any ma

n shall fire

his gun, or

smoke tobac

co, or carry

a lighted

candle below

deck, he sh

all suffer th

e same pun

ishment as

in the

previous art

icle.

8 If any ma

n shall not k

eep his firea

rms clean o

r fit for an

engagement

, or otherwi

se neglect h

is business,

he shall be c

ut off

from his sh

are, and suf

fer such oth

er punishme

nt as the sh

ip’s

company sh

all think fit

.

9 If any m

an shall lose

an arm or

a leg during

an engage-m

ent, he

shall have 80

0 pieces of

eight, or 40

0 if a lesser

part.

10 No wom

an is allowe

d on this sh

ip.

Signed ......

..................

..................

...

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The next day, Captain Jack told thecrew that a storm was brewing.We needed to prepare theship urgently. Maisie and Ilooked at each other. Uh-oh, we were REALLYin trouble now! Abe, the

boatswain (this word ispronounced “bosun”),

ordered us to climb up therigging to help furl the sails. I gulped

and Maisie said, “Does that mean what Ithink it means?” We’re both great atclimbing trees, but this was somethingelse! The mast swayed and creaked, andalready the waves were getting bigger andbigger. TERRIFIED, we gripped tightly on tothe rope ladders (called ratlines) as we climbedslowly to the top. “Don’t look down, Josh!”Maisie shouted. As the breeze gusted around us,

we leant over the yard-armand heaved the heavy sail up

towards us. The men toldus that if we left thesails up, the windwould tear themto shreds.

CRACK! With a clap of thunder,the storm hit us. The shiplurched this way and that inthe churning seas, makingeveryone on board feel veryqueasy. Waves crashed overthe sides, sweeping us offour feet. All of a sudden, Iwas hanging over the sideby my fingertips withseawater up to my waist.Luckily, Captain Jackpulled me back on boardbefore the water coulddrag me down.

Afterthat scary

moment,Maisie and I

were sent belowdeck for our own

safety, Both of us were shiveringwith cold and fright. Now we desperatelywanted to go home. But I started towonder secretly whether we would everget back alive...

TheSpanishMAIN

The Spanish Mainwas the mainlandcoast of the lands

around the CaribbeanSea: part of the SpanishEmpire in the Americasfrom the 16th centuryonwards. It includedpresent-day CentralAmerica and the north coastof South America. Fromhere, a fabulous amount ofgoods were shipped back toSpain by the galleons of theTreasure Fleet. They includedgold, silver, gemstones,jewellery, spices, hardwoods,hides and other treasures. Silverwas brought to the Spanish Mainby the llama trains from Potosi inBolivia, once part of the IncaEmpire, to the Pacific coast andthen by ship. The Spanish Mainwas a magnets for pirates andprivateers. Because of this threat,Spain guarded the Fleet with wargalleons. The Spanish Main was aconstant battleground.

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Later that day, a huge flat tail the height of two men flipped out of thewater. Was that a sea monster or what? Captain Jack laughed and told us it was only a whale. A group of whale-hunters had gone out thatmorning to try spear one for food—you can also use the blubber for

lamp fuel, he told us. They must have thought itwas their lucky day. But just then, it

spouted a jet of spray all over us,and nearly tipped over

the whale-hunters’boat.

Almost as suddenly as it had started, thestorm died down. Water washed over thedeck. Some ragged pieces of sail wereflapping in the wind. A few ropes had comeloose—but the Esmeralda had comethrough it. The bilges were full of water soWill showed us how to work the pumps. Ittook all our strength to lever the heavy armup and down. (Now we knew why the bilgeswere full of rocks. They had helped keepthe ship upright during the storm.)

Before the storm, the captain had ordered Sam the cook to put outthe fire in the galley. If the hot embers had shaken out of the brickfurnace on to the ship’s timbers, we’d have had fire as well as floodsto deal with. Now the hearth was alightonce more and Sam was heating upa stew. All of us wereSTARVING after our ordeal.Maisie was so hungry shedidn’t look to see whatwas in it. I wasn’t sosure: it was a dull, greyliquid with beans andother strange bitsfloating around. Oh well,it was much better thannothing!

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After the storm, we found we had lost sight of the Medusa.Not only that, but the storm’s violent winds had blown uscompletely off course. Looking out across the flat expanseof calm sea in all directions. we wondered if anyone on boardknew where we were. “It’s easy to find out,” laughed Captain Jack. “We know

which way we’re headed by looking at this compass here. Weknow how fast we’re sailing because some fellows countedoff the knots on our log line this morning. Will can tell us howfar north or south we are from measuring how high the sunis above the horizon at noon. See the pilot there? He’s takingthat measurement now with an instrument called a cross-staff. With all of this, we can pinpoint our position on ourchart and get ourselves back on course in no time, can’t welads?”Jack turned to two of the crew. They scratched theirheads and looked blank. We took our turns helping thehelmsman—the one who steers the ship—on the tiller.

Later that day, we were sent up the riggingonce more, this time to the crow’s nest at thetop of the mast. It was our job to look out forthe Medusa. The sea was calmer, and it wasn’tquite as scary a climb as before. In any case,we were hardy seafarers now!It was Maisie, perched right at the top, who

saw her first. “SHIP’S AHOY!” she yelled.

NAVIGATIONF O R B E G I N N E R S

CHARTS AND OBSERVATION

LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE

previous day, the other on her currentposition. Then he held them carefullyagainst the scale bar, giving that samedistance in kilometres.A very useful aid to navigation was the

telescope. Using lenses inside a long, hollowtube, it brought anything

seen through itcloser to theviewer. Asailorcouldmake outlandmarkson thecoast or

islands to helpplot the ship’s

position on the chart.Sailors also used the stars

on cloudless nights to findtheir way. The Pole Staralways sat in the north. Itcould be found by usingthe two “end” stars ofthe Plough, a familiarconstellation, aspointers.

The captain plotted the course of theship on a chart (a map of the sea and

coastlines). The Spanish had made detailedcharts of the Caribbean Sea. Each had a

compass rose,showing north,south, east andwest, and a scalebar. This showedhow far adistance on themap—a fewcentimetres,say—was in thereal world—several hundredkilometres,perhaps.To measure

how farthe ship had sailed, the captainused dividers. He placed thepoints first on the chart, oneon the ship’s positionthe

COMPASSThe compass was thenavigator’s most valuabletool. The magnetic needlealways pointed north. Fromthis, he could work out theship’s direction of travel: her bearing.

The best way was to keepdetailed records of speed anddirection. To find out theship’s speed, a log line, witha weight attached to the end,was thrown from her stern.The line, which had equally-spaced knots tied in it, wasallowed to reel out as theship moved forward. Using asandglass, a

sailor could then timethe number of knotsthat were reeled out inone minute. Multiplyingthis by 60 gave thespeed in knots perhour—still the unit ofspeed ships use today.

LEAD WEIGHTTo prevent a ship running aground, a leadweight was used to measure the depth ofwater. Attached to a marked line, it wasthrown overboard. From the type of mudpicked up on its base a navigator couldtell how close the ship was to shore.

To work out a ship’s latitude—how farnorth or south it had travelled—

sailors calculated the position of the sun atnoon, when it was at its highest. To dothis, he used an instrument called abackstaff. He stood with his back to thesun and looked through what was called asighting vane. Lining up the shadow castby a part of the backstaff called theshadow vane with the horizon, he couldthen measure off the angle of the sunabove the horizon.The higher the sunat noon, the closerthey were to theEquator. To work out

longitude—how fareast or west the shiphad sailed—wasmore difficult.


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Captain Jack trained his telescopeon the horizon. There she was,the Medusa, in full sail. A wrysmile crept over his lips. “Let’s get ready lads. Butwe’ll keep our distance fornow. I’ll fancy she’ll be aneasier prize for us afternightfall.” Everyone cheered

wildly. It was the moment thecrew had been waiting

for. The pirates rushedto prepare the cannon,

load their pistols and practise theirswordsmanship. Action at last!

Loaders used a long stick to ram gunpowder and a ballinto the barrel of each cannon. The gun crewthen hauled the heavy gun up to the port,ready to fire. Up went theirrallying cry: “Esmeraldaand all who sail inher!”

Until now, ourjobs had mainlybeen to scrub thedecks or keep alookout. But now,we were going tobe REALPIRATES. too.

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We followed the Medusaquietly into a bay. Our cannonswere primed, but there wasno need to fire. It seemedthe Medusa didn’t even noticewe were there. Instead, wecould hear distant sounds ofsinging and merrymaking. Herlights flickered late into thenight. We waited patiently forit all to go quiet...

At thesignal from

Captain Jack, our boatspushed out silently across the

still waters of the bay towards her. “Josh! What if they shoot at us with

guns?” hissed Maisie. Jack overheard her.“They’ll be in no condition to fight tonight,” hewhispered, with a wink.

When we reached theMedusa, we threw ourgrappling irons over herside and, pulling on theropes, shimmied up herside, One of our menquietly muzzled the sleepylookout. There was no oneelse about. All we couldhear were the sounds ofloud snoring coming frombelow deck. We crept down thecompanionway, the steps leadingdown to the crew’s quarters. CaptainJack had his pistols at the ready, but the entire crew of the Medusawere sound asleep. Drunk and drowsy, our opponents surrendered with

barely a murmur. I have to say I wasa bit disappointed that we didn’tget to see any pirateFIGHTING ACTION! Buttaking control of the Medusawas only the first part ofthis mission. We still had tofind the captain and makehim surrender. And Maisieand I did find some coolpirate souvenirs.

ATTACK! Boom! There is a deafeningexplosion as the pirates fire

their cannon at the galleon.Then, with blood-curdling yells,they leap aboard. The crewbravely fight back. Some hurlbarrels towards the pirates asthey clamber aboard. Punchesare thrown, pistols and musketsfired, swords drawn, but theyare no match for their battle-hardened enemy. The piratescharge below decks in search oftreasure and supplies, including

weapons, food and drink.

Fighting could go on bothon the deck and in therigging. The defenders of thegalleon could gain an advantageby firing down on the pirateattackers from positions high on theratlines. A successful shot from thepirate ship’s cannons could, however, blastthrough the mast, bringing it crashing down,along with the rigging. Boarding pirates armedwith axes could also chop through the galleon’sropes, bringing the mainsail tumbling on to the deckand causing great confusion.


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But before we went off on a treasure hunt, something had to be donewith the Medusa’s crew. Maisie and I helped tie the poor men up.Luckily for them, our crew took pity on them: they were just ordinarylads like them, after all. So they decided to put them ashore on thenearest island. They would survive, but theywould have to fend for themselves withonly a few supplies and a littleammunition. We herded them intorowing boats and sent them off.Captain Crow would be comingwith us—in case he tried anyfunny business.

We helped to disarm the crew, while Jackwent in search of the Medusa’s captain.Captain Crow was shocked to see Jack.

Later, someone told us the story. Yearsago, Jack had found treasure on a wrecked

galleon. In return for helping him recover thebooty from the sea bed, Jack had promised Crow a half

share. But once the treasure was safely recovered, Crow had Jackmarooned—cast adrift alone on an island—and sailed off with all thebooty. He had it buried, intending to return one day to dig it up. ButJack had survived and was determined to claim his treasure. “You know what I’m after, Crow”, he growled, pointing a pistol at

him. Crow spluttered that he was innocent, but Jack forced him tohand over the map showing where the treasure was buried.

We heard someof the crewtalking about allthe treasure theywould find andhow much theirshare would be.They spoke of thestrange andwonderful birds andbeasts that mightlive on the island.“Turtle eggs!” shoutedone growly voice.“They be what I’Mafter. Hang the rest ofye!” Turtle eggs, Abethe boatswain explained,are a pirate’s favouritefood, and usuallyextremely difficult tofind...

Skull Sea

OctopusBay

SkeletonPoint

FishIsland

SilverStream

Pearl Lake

AnchorStack

Serpent Cove

Bluebeard’ s Mount

MusketHead

Shark Bay

ParrotIsland

TurtleIsland

HopelessPoint

Orca Sound

0 500 metresScale

This is the treasure map that Jack took from Crow. X marks the spot!

I really hoped there wouldn’t ACTUALLY be dragons, like on the map.


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We set sail for Mermaid Islandwhere, according to the map, thetreasure was buried. TheMedusa, manned by some of ourmen, followed behind. CaptainCrow was securely tied up belowdeck. Jack didn’t trust him one

bit. If the map turned out to be false, he threatened, Crow wouldbecome closely acquainted with the sharp tip of his cutlass...We arrived at the island, and rowed ashore, leaving Crow under guard

on the Medusa. Our men dug for hours but found nothing. “This is definitely the spot marked on the map,”

I said. “Why, that treacherous old devil!”muttered Captain Jack. “Let’s hear what hehas to say for himself now!”

We rushedback to thebeach. But itwas too late.We looked on inastonishmentas we saw the Medusa sailing away. “Curse that rogue,” roared CaptainJack. “How did he escape?”Maisie and I looked at each other. The manwho took that bag of money from the Medusa men on the quay. Ofcourse! Jack had left HIM to guard Crow. We had been TRICKED! Crowhad buried the treasure somewhere else and our crew mate was in onthe plot the whole time. We all knew we had to act quickly if we were torecover the treasure.

While the crew awaited Jack’sorders, Maisie spotted a bottlewashed up on the shore.“What’s that Josh? Hey ... itlooks like there’s a piece ofpaper inside it.”

Lake

Like you, I have travelled ba

ck in time.

I, too, was in search of the buried

treasure you now seek. Do not question

how I know this: the trove IS to be fo

und

on the island—but in a different spot.

Follow the route in this sketch map and

you will surely find it.

Good luck!Volcano

Dead tree

Thetreasure

Where

you are

now

Ruined hut


Job:E7-06007 Title:Dairy Of Pirate VoyageE08-AC46593 150# Dtp:44 Page:41

Our hearts were in our mouths. He could have runus through with his sword and no one would everknow what had happened to us. Gulp!“Leave them,” came a quiet,

familiar voice, We looked up. CaptainJack and the crew of the Esmeraldasurrounded us. “No more tricks from you.Crow. Thanks to our brave young friends,we have found what is rightfully ours. And thanks to your men for doing all thedigging work for us.”

Armed with our sketch map, we slippedoff on our own. We didn’t dare tellCaptain Jack where were going. He wouldhave said it was another one of Crow’sdirty tricks and ordered us back to the

Esmeralda. Butwe KNEW wewere on the righttrack. We would find the treasure, thenrush back to tell the crew. What an adventure!!We trekked across the island,

following the map’s directions, then ... We stopped dead in our tracks. Weheard voices and the sound of digging.We clambered over the rocks. Crow!

He and his henchmen,including the traitor from

our own crew, were at that moment lifting atreasure chest out of the ground. Theymust have sailed round theisland to get to the REALspot. Crow wheeled roundand saw us. “What’s this?” he snarled. “Why,you interfering littlebrats!”



150# Dtp:44 Page:43

Phew—that wasclose! Luckily, oneof the crew hadspotted us headingoff from the beachand told the Captain.

Otherwise ... I shuddered to think what might have been. As it was,we were on our way back to the Esmeralda as heroes! The treasurewas won back and Crow and his men were marooned on MermaidIsland. Hah! We’ll not have any trouble from him again. Now was thetime to party! Sam cooked a massive feast: fresh chicken, fish, fruit and

vegetables and, best of all, turtles’ eggs, all washed down with ale.

The pirates certainly knew how to enjoythemselves! The fiddler struck up a jig andsoon they were all on their feet dancing... Then we remembered that Granddad

would be very worried about us. I whisperedto Maisie that we should go and look for thesecret door. She agreed. But when I felt for the key onmy belt IT WASN’T THERE! Now what were we going to do? Would webe trapped on this ship forever, 300 years in the past? Just then, I noticed a glint of gold in the fish’s jaws on the plate. It

was the key! I must have lost it over the side during the storm, but afish had grabbed it in its mouth. By an amazing coincidence, someonehad later caught that very same fish for our feast!


Maisie plucked the key from the fish’smouth and we dashed off to find thedoor. We crept inside Captain Jack’scabin. We were normally forbiddenfrom entering, but Jack was busyeating and dancing at the feast. Therewas the door! Maisie pushed the keyinto the lock. It swung open and weclimbed through.

Now this was VERYstrange. Our pirate clothes had gone and instantlywe were back in our tee shirts and jeans.Granddad came into the study. “I see you found my book on pirates.”“We’re sorry we were gone for so long,”

Maisie blurted out. “You see, we’ve been on thisamazing adventure ...” Granddad looked quizzical, but said: “That’s funny.

You couldn’thave been gone very long at all.I’m sure it was only a minuteago that you went off to take alook at that globe.” We told him all that hadhappened. He smiled. “Bad men,those pirates. You were luckyto make it back in one piece!”

We found out later in another one of Granddad’s books that ourship was a brigantine, a medium-sized type of vessel with twomasts. Brigantines were favoured by pirates because they werevery fast and easy to control. They could also sail in shallowwaters where heavier warships could not follow. Grand Spanishgalleons were no match for priates aboard a brigantine, especiallywhen weighed down by the many guns needed to defend theship, and of course a pirate’s favourite thing: TREASURE!

Jolly Roger

Captain’squarters

Stern CannonBow

Rudder Hull

Yard

Crow’snest

Main mast Foremast

Mainsail

Foresail

Topsail

Jib sail

Jib sail

Bowsprit

Figure-head

Anchor

Crewclimbingratlines

Gaff sail

Gaff sail

GLOSSARYBackstaff A tool that measures the sun’sheight in the sky, and shows how far north orsouth the ship has travelled.

Ballast Stones packed into the bottom of theship (the bilges) that keep the ship upright,particularly in rough weather.

Bilges The lowest part of the ship. Thebilges tend to fill up with smelly, stagnantwater and have to be pumped regularly.

Crow’s nest A look-out point high up aship’s mast.

Galleon A large, three-masted cargo shipused mainly by the Spanish to transporttreasure from the Americas back to Spain.

Grappling iron A rope with a many-prongediron hook on the end used to secure twoships together, usually during an attack.

Jolly Roger The flag flown by pirate ships.

Maroon The punishment in which a sailor isabandoned alone on an island with only basicsupplies.

Merchant ship A ship that carries cargo thatis for sale.

Mutiny When a group of sailors are in openrebellion against their captain.

Pieces of eight Thepirate name for Spanishsilver coins.

Privateer Someone givenpermission by the government of one countryto attack ships belonging to another.

Ratlines Rope ladders used to climb up intothe rigging of a ship.

Rigging The ship’s sails and the ropes usedto control them.

Spanish Main The Caribbean coast of SouthAmerica, under Spanish rule.

Diary of a pirate...Job:E7-06007 Title:Dairy Of Pirate Voyage (AB) (UK) 150# Dtp:44 Page: 7 A G A L...

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